[Letter of 1869 April 9]

[Letter of 1869 April 9]

1869-04-9

African American College students

Poetry -- 19th century

African Americans -- 19th century

Anderson, Caroline Still, 1848-1911 [recipient]

image/jp2

Correspondence

This material is made available for private study, scholarship, and research use. For access to the original letter or high-resolution reproduction, please contact the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection (blockson@temple.edu; 215-204-6632).

Temple University Libraries, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection

William Still Collection

Blockson manuscripts

William Still Collection

Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Libraries

blockson@temple.edu

BMS010X0043

Georgetown, Ky., Apr. 9th1869./ Miss Carrie:/ To me The Oberlin post/ mark and a letter, from you are now/ synonymous terms. Such was the fact on/ the 4th inst. when after somewhat of a/ trying expectation, I was handed a letter/ with the mark above named. You may/ perhaps remark in me some impa/tience in the words "trying expectation"/ but I frankly protest you are mistaken;/ for an earnest longing after an object/ is not that disagreeable indisposition/ of the mind to contain itself in pa/ tience at the convenience of the/ source whence the desired thing is to/ come. And then [hood?] can sympathize/ with you in your limited since, and/ death of news in a place like Oberlin./ For" Love all these trials I have borne apart/ Oftentimes I myself have felt the smart./ Time and again, while at College, would my/ correspondence crowd on me in such/ quantity that for lack of time/ and matter to communicate,/I would occasionally be culpable/ of failing to reply, till the next from/ [?] injured friend would either chide/ or remind me of my delinquency. Profit,/my friend, by what may be learned from/ this confession, but imitate it- never!/I am however persuaded that this admoni-/ tion is superfluous; for if you are as/ prompt with other correspondents as/ you are with me, they may with me well con/gratulate themselves on your reliabil/ ity. Your reference to the weather on/ the 1st inst. reminds me of the 29th and/ 30th ult. they were unspeakably lovely/ days. Both days I walked out into the/ country- and such scenes! The sun/ rode in a sky of faultless blue. Shed/ ding his genial rays on the languid/ earths, hills, woods, and meadows were/ animated with the voices of tuneful/ birds, bleating lambs and busy/ men. Doves cooing so their makes more/ answered by swarms of black-/ birds: The notes of the lark, as it/ "soared somewhere out of sight"/ were last in the sweet music of the grace/ [ful orsolan?]. The crows, natural born/ thieves, in their shining coats of jetty/ black, strode on The banks of The/ ponds and [rivulls?] in the pomposi/ty of worthy personages. With ready/ beaks, sharp eyes, and nimble feet,/ They were prompt to move, see, and/ pick up The worm or grub That chanced/ to leave its hiding place. Ducks, geese/ and pigeons in loving union enjoyed/ the water to the grading sounds of the/ former two, and the amorous music/ of the latter. I almost fancied the ques/ tion of the little maiden to Spring/ answered in This: "I am coming, little maiden/ With the pleasant sunshine laden;/ With the honey for the bee,/ With the blossom for the tree."/ But a feaw weeks more at the longest, and/ we shall realize all this and/ much more of the beauties of/ Spring. Not to weary you with childish/ prattle, I must say I heartily accept/your amendment to my "romantic/ vision of Miss Pit's marriage. You, as/ a lady, must have by far the more/ appropriate taste of The esthetic in/ that which concerns the adornment of/ your sex, especially in the delicate/ and eventful period of matrimony./ Whatever be Mrs. Madden's lot, I fervent/ly wish her the success which her merits/demand. The conversion of Mr: Langs-/ ton is indeed news to me. May he/ prove abundantly useful in his new/ relation. But oh! My own fate. I never/ hear of the passage of another from/ death to life, but I instinctively re/ flect on hell, heaven and the judgment;/ they loom up before me in Their pro/ positionate sublimity. The Judgment,/ that complete day of reckoning- in/ view of it how significant is The funeral/ hymn of Sir Walter Scott in The Lay of The Last/ Minstrel!/ "Dies [Irae?], dies illa-/ [Solvet?] [speculum?] in[favilla?]/ That day of wrath, that dreadful day./ when heaven and earth shall pass away./ What power shall be the sinner's stay/ how shall he meet that wrathful day?/When punching like a [shrivetled? scroll/ The flaming heavens together roll;/When louder yet, and still more dread/ swells The high trump that wakes The dead./ Oh! On that day, that dreadful day,/ when man to Judgment wakes from days/ Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay/ though heaven and earth shall pass away."/ I pray that I may happily realize the wish/ expressed in the first of the last couples./ I am truly sorry to hear that my friend/ Brent has abandoned his college course./ I intend to study law and follow it as/ a profession, but I would not for The/ fame of a Choate have given up my/ classic course./ It is indeed strange that/ now The colored people have greater facility/ to be educated, Then should be so few rep-/ sentatives[sic] of Them at Oberlin. Return/ my compliments to Miss/ Jennie, and tell her I made / the acquaintance of her friend/ Ms. Hoffman in Danville in this/ state last spring. Miss Carrie, did/ I understand you in your last letter/ but one that you will graduate next/ year? If not impertinent, please/ inform me. Tell Mrs. Thomas I would/ vey[sic] much like to see my friends in/ O., but should I fail to do so this year,/ with my present arrangements, I fear/ it will be many years before I would/ have the pleasure of meeting Them./ I deeply long to see O. before I leave/ This part of The country and should/ I find it convenient, I shall surely/ do so. Please remember me to the family. / Inform me, if you will, whether Mom. Dr/ La Fore’t still resides at O. This leaves/ me well, and hoping it will find you/ the same. I close with the best [assurances?]/ of my sincere regards and esteem/ Very truly yours/ Thomas D.S. Tucker./